As my friend laughed, I swore that the sunlight around us brightened. As my friend laughed, I heard the chirping of the birds around us join in, delighted with the noise. As my friend laughed, I realized that for a moment, just a moment, the world was a better place. As laughter rode the waves of wind, tinkling in the breeze, my spirits lifted, and I began to recreate the sound as well. When we were done giggling at the joke, we thumped onto the cool grass, and sighed contentedly. We smiled at each other. We were best friends. Best buddies. Best companions. Each knew the other perfectly, and each loved the other equally. And each knew, we adamantly knew, that we would never, ever, separate.


Then the unthinkable happened.


“We’re moving.”


The next day, I walked to school, in tears, shaken up considerably. The laughter that I had known before seemed to simply shatter. I couldn’t smile, much less laugh at the situation. I hid my cries underneath layers and layers of smiles, layers and layers of optimism. But she knew better. Later, she approached me, “So you’re leaving.” It was merely a statement, nothing more. It was what followed that broke me. She laughed sadly. As she laughed, I saw the florescent lights on the ceiling dim. As she laughed, I felt as if every noise stopped, the only sound evident was that laugh. As she laughed, I realized that for an eternity, a great eternity, I would never find someone to replace her. I joined in, but we found ourselves crying uncontrollably. How could such a light, joyful noise procure such a horrible feeling?


I felt so lost, so broken, so alone. The laughter only magnified this feeling.


I was positive that I would never be able to laugh so realistically again. Never.


My new school, though painted with brightly lit colors, seemed awash in gray. I didn’t laugh when chances revealed themselves. I didn’t smile when I should have. In fact, I didn’t react at all. I felt detached from myself, numb to everything around me. I became a robot, a machine only going though all the motions of being a human.


One day, laughter must have decided that it had enough of my pessimism.


“Hey! Why’re you sitting all alone? What’s your name?” A cheerful question, I could hear the laughter in her voice. I managed to stutter out my name, and looked up at my interrogator. She had an enormous smile hung on her face.


“Well…why’re you so gloomy? You look lonely. Come sit with us!” I obliged and soon found myself with a myriad of new friends. Pretty soon I was laughing again, wholeheartedly, joyously.


Now, thinking back to my dark times beforehand, I realized that happiness was more than just a feeling, just another human emotion.


It was a lifeboat in the tempest of fate.